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The Silent Demon [PrC]

Silent Demon

Even the noblest warrior has his dark side. Some struggle to fight it, and some become champions of good in spite of it. And then there are those who embrace their dark side, drawing strength from their darkness. There are the Masked Demons, warriors capable of gaining unholy power without giving in to evil by unleashing their dark side. But there is another path, a fine line walked by the warriors known as Silent Demons. Through sheer willpower and intense meditation, they can control the darkness within them, drawing power from it. Rather than unleashing their inner demon, they seal it away behind their calm minds, able to tap its power when they have need of it. They can use demonic powers without being corrupted by them, allowing them to turn evilís strength against it.

Hit Dice
d8

Requirements
To qualify to become a Silent Demon, you must fulfill all the following criteria.
Alignment: Lawful Good or Lawful Neutral
BAB: +3
Feats: Improved Unarmed Strike, Inner Demon
Skills: Concentration 8 ranks, Knowledge (The Planes) 2 ranks
Maneuvers: Must be able to use 3rd-level martial maneuvers, including at least one strike and one stance.

Class Features
All the following are class features of the Silent Demon prestige class.

Weapon and Armor Proficiency
You gain proficiency with the kama, nunchaku, sai, shuriken, and siangham.

Maneuvers
At each even-numbered level, you gain one new maneuver known from the Diamond Mind, Dread Crown, Golden Saint, or Setting Sun disciplines. You must meet a maneuverís prerequisites to learn it. You add your full Silent Demon level to your initiator level to determine your total initiator level and the highest level of maneuver you can learn. If you have levels in an initiator class that allows you to exchange out maneuvers at certain levels, your Silent Demon levels stack with your levels in that class for determining when you may exchange maneuvers. At 3rd and 7th level, you gain an additional maneuver readied each day.

Stances
At 1st level, and again at 5th level, you gain a new martial stance known from the Diamond Mind, Dread Crown, Golden Saint, or Setting Sun disciplines. You must meet a stanceís prerequisites to learn it.

Occult Strike (Su)
At 1st level, you can channel dark and unholy energy without being tainted by it. You can use maneuvers with the (Evil) descriptor, even though you are of non-evil alignment. In addition, your unarmed strike is considered a magic weapon for overcoming damage reduction.

Silence the Demon (Ex)
You can control your inner demon through force of will and concentration. Your Inner Demon feat no longer triggers when you are damaged. Instead, you may use it at will as a swift action, though only once per encounter, and you cannot use it outside of an encounter. In addition, you no longer enter a state of rage, but instead a state of extreme focus and calm. Instead of the normal bonuses from a rage, you gain a +4 bonus to Dexterity and Wisdom, a +1 bonus on all saving throws, and gain temporary hp equal to your class level. You are not fatigued or exhausted at the end of this abilityís duration.

Bonus Feat (Ex)
At 2nd and 4th levels, you gain a bonus feat, chosen from the list below. You need not meet the prerequisites of the feats you choose, with the exception of the feats Distant Horizon and Perfect Clarity of Mind and Body.

Demonic Martial Arts (Ex or Su)
At 3rd, 5th, 7th, and 9th levels, you may learn a demonic martial art. Some are techniques that allow you to improve your unarmed strikes, while others are passive or defensive abilities. You can only use demonic martial arts while your silence the demon ability is active. Some demonic martial arts have level requirements, noted in their description.

Blood War Tactics (Ex)
You gain a bonus equal to your Wisdom modifier on all Strength and Dexterity checks, as well as on all Strength and Dexterity-based skill checks.

Dark Phantasm Strike (Ex)
The first unarmed strike you make each round is treated as a melee touch attack. You must be of 7th level or higher to learn this demonic martial art.

Demonís Blood (Ex)
You gain fast healing 1. This increases to fast healing 2 at 7th level, and to fast healing 3 at 9th level. You must be of 5th level or higher to learn this demonic martial art.

Demonic Bloodlust (Ex)
Whenever you make a critical hit with an unarmed strike, you may immediately recover an expended maneuver as a swift action.

Disturbing Silence (Ex)
Once per encounter, when you attack an opponent in melee and reduce it to 0 hp or less with an unarmed strike, you may make a Concentration check to unnerve all enemies that saw you drop the foe. All enemies within 30 ft. of you that have HD less than or equal to your initiator level are shaken for a number of rounds equal to the result of the check divided by 5, rounded down.

Screaming Blasphemy Strike (Su)
Whenever you hit an enemy that has damage reduction with an unarmed strike, you may subtract one from its damage reduction for every 5 ranks in Concentration you have, rounded down. You must be of 5th level or higher to learn this demonic martial art.

Unholy Shadow Strike (Su)
Once per round, when you damage an enemy with an unarmed strike, you may bestow a negative level on that enemy, causing you to be healed 5 hp. These negative levels stack, but never cause permanent level drain. The negative levels are removed after 24 hours have passed. You may bestow only one negative level for every 5 ranks you have in Concentration, rounded down, each encounter. You must be of 9th level or higher to learn this demonic martial art.

Vicious Rending (Ex)
Once per encounter, when you make an unarmed strike, you may use the vicious rending demonic martial art. You must choose whether or not to use this ability before you make the attack roll. If the attack hits, it is a critical hit. You must be of 9th level or higher to learn this demonic martial art.

Walk Through Hell (Ex)
You gain resistance 10 to fire and electricity. At 9th level, this increases to resistance 20.

Greater Occult Strike (Su)
At 5th level, your unarmed strike is considered both evil- and lawful-aligned for overcoming damage reduction.

Serene Demon (Ex)
At 6th level, when you use your silence the demon ability, the bonus to Wisdom and Dexterity increases to +6, and the bonus on saves increases to +2.

Silent Soul Mask (Su)
At 8th level, you master a stance that allows you to draw forth your inner demon, manifesting it in the form of a fiendish mask. This stance is similar in function to the controlled demon stance the Masked Demons use, but the degree of concentration and willpower required to attain it make it both more difficult to use and more powerful. While you are in a martial stance and your silence the demon ability is active, you may, as a swift action, forgo the stanceís normal benefit to enter the silent soul mask stance. You can also end the silent soul mask stance and resume the normal benefit of the stance you were in as a swift action. While in this stance, a demonic mask forms over your face and a suit of demonic armor forms around you, granting you a +8 armor bonus to AC. The armor has no check penalty or maximum dexterity, and is treated as light armor. You gain a +6 bonus to Strength and Constitution. If the duration of your silence the demon ability ends while you are in the silent soul mask stance, then the stanceís effect ends, reverting to the stance you were previously in.

Harmony of Heaven and Hell (Su)
At 10th level, you have mastered the darkness within you, becoming a being of balanced good and evil. Your type changes to outsider, and you gain the native subtype. You gain damage reduction 10/magic, immunity to poison and disease, and darkvision out to 60 ft. You gain a racial +2 bonus to all abilities. These racial bonuses do not stack with any existing racial bonuses to abilities you have, but they stack with (and do not replace) racial penalties to abilities. In addition, while your silence the demon ability is active, your unarmed strike is treated as having both the holy and unholy special abilities.

Last edited by The Demented One; 2008-07-23 at 09:52 PM.

I no longer actively read the forums, and probably won't respond to any PMs. I'm fine with people using my homebrew in anything, including fan-compilations and wikis, as long as you credit me.

Re: The Silent Demon [PrC]

What's this Hidden Demon feat?

EDIT: Nevermind, silly question.

Last edited by dyslexicfaser; 2008-07-23 at 09:50 PM.

People seemed to like this better, but only marginally so - the way one might prefer to be stabbed than shot. Optimally, one isn't stabbed or shot. Optimally, one eats some cake! But there are times when cake is not available, and instead we are destroyed. This is the deep poetry of the universe. -- Tycho Brahe

Re: The Silent Demon [PrC]

Love your stuff, Demented One, but I have a question about your Silent Demon class.

The demonic martial art "Blood War Tactics", does this add Wisdom to damage rolls as well? My player and I were curious as he was interested in this class. I said probably not, but we wanted to make sure.

Re: The Silent Demon [PrC]

At the heart of all beauty lies something inhuman, and these hills, the softness of the sky, the outline of the trees at this very minute lose the illusory meaning with which we clothed them, henceforth more remote than a lost paradise.
-Camus, An Absurd Reasoning

Re: The Silent Demon [PrC]

I personally don't like the fluff. The whole "harness the darkside without giving in" motif is pretty lazy writing in my opinion.

1) It's been done to death. Star Wars, for example.
2) Your class is too cool to be "good." That is to say, your class is acting out to get attention. It dresses black and dabbles in the occult and then yells at mom because she doesn't understand him. It's pretty emo.
3) You're not being descriptive when you use "dark," "darkside," "evil," and "demonic" in the same paragraph.

Personally, I probably would have gone with a more Taoistic angle. A group of warrior-oracles reputed for being mysteriously silent while they rip your lungs up out of your throat. This eeriness is compounded by the fact that they wear masks. The end result is that they betray no emotion and are rather unnerving to fight.

Therefore they have an unusual penchant for trying to master their animal savagery by learning to express and control it effectively, rather than trying to suppress it. It's isn't about "mastering metaphysical evil without corruption." It has more to do with personal responsibility and foresight. Probably closer to "law versus chaos." Not "good versus evil."

Their power source might very well still come from demons teaching them their secrets. But I mean "demons" in a more shamanistic spirit sense than as an agent of evil trying to damn souls. Sort of like how there are myths that ninjas were taught their secrets by Tengu. This is nicely appropriate since the ninja conspiracy theory was pretty mythical in its own right.

In other words, the fluff is hampered by too many Western preoccupations about the good vs. evil duality.

(Come to think of it, this reminds me of the Dark Reapers from WH40k with a more eastern shamanistic flavoring.)

Re: The Silent Demon [PrC]

Originally Posted by LurkerInPlayground

I personally don't like the fluff. The whole "harness the darkside without giving in" motif is pretty lazy writing in my opinion.

1) It's been done to death. Star Wars, for example.
2) Your class is too cool to be "good." That is to say, your class is acting out to get attention. It dresses black and dabbles in the occult and then yells at mom because she doesn't understand him. It's pretty emo.
3) You're not being descriptive when you use "dark," "darkside," "evil," and "demonic" in the same paragraph.

Personally, I probably would have gone with a more Taoistic angle. A group of warrior-oracles reputed for being mysteriously silent while they rip your lungs up out of your throat. This eeriness is compounded by the fact that they wear masks. The end result is that they betray no emotion and are rather unnerving to fight.

Therefore they have an unusual penchant for trying to master their animal savagery by learning to express and control it effectively, rather than trying to suppress it. It's isn't about "mastering metaphysical evil without corruption." It has more to do with personal responsibility and foresight. Probably closer to "law versus chaos." Not "good versus evil."

Their power source might very well still come from demons teaching them their secrets. But I mean "demons" in a more shamanistic spirit sense than as an agent of evil trying to damn souls. Sort of like how there are myths that ninjas were taught their secrets by Tengu. This is nicely appropriate since the ninja conspiracy theory was pretty mythical in its own right.

In other words, the fluff is hampered by too many Western preoccupations about the good vs. evil duality.

(Come to think of it, this reminds me of the Dark Reapers from WH40k with a more eastern shamanistic flavoring.)

First, I shall say that flavor is ultimately mutable.

Second, I shall say that this class is supposed to be the other side of the same coin that is this class, and my Masked Demon. My class being a class that takes the darkness on a fancy date and paints the town red with it. The host of the demon gets power, the demon gets to eat the host from the inside out. This class realizes that demons are probably always hungry for innards, and waggles the finger at it in threat of beating it senseless if it acts up, but still takes stuff from it.
The point really being that it was an idea at least inspired by mine(which wasn't really even mine in the first place). But as far as opposites go, these two fit as good bedfellows.